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Sunday, 10 June 2007
English As A Primary Language
Topic: Immigration
ESL or English as a Secondary Language is a well known concept in America. After all 33.5 Million US residents, some 11.7% of the population are Foreign Born and quite a few of them had to learn English as a Second Language. Those of course are the official figures, Legal Resident Aliens and Naturalized Citizens, add to that some 12 Million Illegal Aliens.

All of this has been a matter of grave debate recently and various laws are being debated in Congress.

I won't speak on the main focus of the latest Immigration Legislation, that has been done extensively over broad regions of the Internet.

There was one amendment I chanced upon that got my immediate attention. I really do hope that it or some version of it becomes US Law.

I am speaking of the Inhofe amendment to require English as official language

It can be found Here

S.Amdt. 1151: To amend title 4, United States Code, to declare English as the.

To amend title 4, United States Code, to declare English as the national language of the Government of the United States, and for other purposes.

An amendment to S. 1348: A bill to provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes.
Offered: May 22, 2007
Sponsor: Sen. James Inhofe [R-OK]
Actions:
Jun 6, 2007: Amendment SA 1151 proposed by Senator Reid for Senator Inhofe to Amendment SA 1150.
Jun 6, 2007: Amendment SA 1151 agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 64 - 33. Record Vote Number: 198. [Vote Details]


Here is a graphic presentation of the voting and more information on the voting.







Text of amendment

SA 1151. Mr. INHOFE (for himself, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Burr, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Bunning, and Mr. Coleman) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 1348, to provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

Strike section 702 and insert the following:

SEC. 702. ENGLISH AS NATIONAL LANGUAGE.

(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``S.I. Hayakawa National Language Amendment Act of 2007''.

(b) In General.--Title 4, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new chapter:

``CHAPTER 6--LANGUAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT

``Sec.

``161..Declaration of national language.

``162..Preserving and enhancing the role of the national language.

``163..Use of language other than English.

``SEC. 161. DECLARATION OF NATIONAL LANGUAGE.

``English shall be the national language of the Government of the United States.

``SEC. 162. PRESERVING AND ENHANCING THE ROLE OF THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE.

``(a) In General.--The Government of the United States shall preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America.

``(b) Exception.--Unless specifically provided by statute, no person has a right, entitlement, or claim to have the Government of the United States or any of its officials or representatives act, communicate, perform or provide services, or provide materials in any language other than English. If an exception is made with respect to the use of a language other than English, the exception does not create a legal entitlement to additional services in that language or any language other

than English.

``(c) Forms.--If any form is issued by the Federal Government in a language other than English (or such form is completed in a language other than English), the English language version of the form is the sole authority for all legal purposes.

``SEC. 163. USE OF LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH.

``Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the use of a language other than English.''.

(c) Conforming Amendment.--The table of chapters for title 4, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

``6. Language of the Government

161''.

(As printed in the Congressional Record for the Senate on May 22, 2007.)


Some may raise objections to the idea that we should define English as the official language of the United States but the vast majority of Americans agree.

And many of those who do agree have learned English as Second Language!

Vast Majority of Americans Support Official English

National polling data indicates that the overwhelming majority of Americans, including Hispanics, support making English the official language.

* 85% of Americans, including 92% of Republicans, 79% of Democrats, and 86% of those not affiliated with either party, favor making English the official language of the United States of America. [1]

* 77% of Hispanics believe English should be the official language of government operations. [2]

* 82% of Americans support legislation that would require the federal government to conduct business solely in English.[3]

Government should do more to preserve role of English

* 92% of Americans believe that preserving English as our common language is vital to maintaining our unity; 69% agree that the United States is at risk of becoming 'disunited' by language. [4]

* 78% of Americans believe that the government should do more to help immigrants learn English; More Americans also believe that Congress and the President aren't doing enough to preserve America's unity in the English language (60%-26%) [4]

* 79% of Americans believe immigrants should be required to learn English before they are granted citizenship; only 14% disagree.[5]

* 68% of Americans oppose bilingual or multilingual election ballots. [6]

Most immigrants say learning English is essential.

* 91% of foreign-born Latino immigrants agree that learning English is essential to succeed in the U.S., according to a 2002 Kaiser Family Foundation poll.[7]

* A 2002 Carnegie/Public Agenda poll found that by more than a 2-1 margin immigrants themselves say the U.S. should expect new immigrants to learn English.[8]

Most immigrants reject "bilingual education."

* The 2002 Carnegie/Public Agenda poll found that 73% of immigrants believe schools should teach English as quickly as possible. 63% said that they believe that all teaching should be done in English, while only 32% supported allowing some teaching in their native languages.

[8]


So despite what some groups on the Left or the Mainstream Media might try to portray, this sentiment is not limited to Xenophobic, Racist Neo-Con Bigots.

It is instead the Will and the Word of the American Polity.

Don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise.


Technorati Tag:******



**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email stiknstein-at-gmail-dot-com and let us know at what level you would like to participate.




Trackposted to
Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Pursuing Holiness, Adeline and Hazel, Pet's Garden Blog, Rightlinx, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, stikNstein... has no mercy, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Church and State, , The Random Yak, A Blog For All, 123beta, guerrilla radio, DeMediacratic Nation, Maggie's Notebook, Adam's Blog, Webloggin, MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Cao's Blog, Phastidio.net, The Bullwinkle Blog, Colloquium, Conservative Cat, Jo's Cafe, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Faultline USA, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

View blog reactions

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 10:19 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 10 June 2007 11:09 AM CDT
Thursday, 31 May 2007
A Day Without Gringos
Topic: Immigration

Sometime back I saw a movie on one of the oddball cable channels called.

A Day Without A Mexican


Here are the words of the film makers statement

“How do you make the invisible, visible? You take it away.”

One morning California wakes up to find that one third of its population has disappeared. As the day goes by we discover that the characteristic that links the 14 million disappeared is their Hispanic background. This is the premise of the film A Day Without A Mexican that was released in 2004.

As filmmakers we felt, beginning in 1994 with California’s Prop 187, that the half-truths constantly repeated in immigration discussions needed to be clarified. Using our artistic voice we intended to give form to a strong sentiment of discomfort we perceived in the Latino immigrant community but which up to now had had no clear shape, no loud voice. We believe that immigration reform is the civil rights struggle of our time. It is a struggle that affects all of us with its impact on the economic, social and cultural fabric of our society.

In the spring of 2006, reality has imitated art. Immigration issues have exploded onto the national stage and currently there is a call for a National Boycott on May 1st -- No work, no school, no buying, no selling -- in support of immigration reform in the United States.
All artists dream of changing the world. Our goal is to create work that is relevant to our times. If our work has encouraged social change, that is the ultimate satisfaction. In making this film, our objective was to open the dialogue on the issue of immigration by including factual information and alternative views that would change the terms of the discussion. This in the hope of having the Latino community take its rightful place as an important contributor and player in the history and future of the United States. The film was meant as a fable, a warning to be heeded.

Today, the fable has come to life. As we see reality and our imagination become one, we want to encourage people to participate in the struggle as they are able. We will be documenting the process and the outcome in hopes of furthering the discussion of the contribution made to our society and economy by not just the Latino immigrants but all immigrants. That these contributions increase productivity and raise the standard of living for all of us


I don't know about anyone else but this part popped right out at me,

We believe that immigration reform is the civil rights struggle of our time.

Excuse me, but citizens of other countries enter ours as guests they have no inherent right to come here.

If you disagree with that sentiment, I suppose anyone who wishes to, has an equal right to enter your house and make themselves at home?

I didn't think so.

Anyway I recalled that movie while reading about all the courtesy that little girl from Tennessee received in Mexico recently when she was representing the USA in the Miss Universe Contest. NOT!

Mexicans Boo Miss USA at Pageant


Oh brother. Yeah, that'll wake us up about how wrong we are about the intentions and attitude of the 20 million-plus illegal Mexicans in our nation. Or, it could simply highlight the contempt Mexicans hold for this country. You see, the more someone allows you to take advantage of them, the less you respect them.

This year's contest was marked by controversy, with a handful of Mexicans booing Smith in the run-up to the finals because of what they saw as U.S. unfriendliness toward illegal immigrants...This was the fourth time the pageant was held in Mexico...


Rachel Smith, our entrant and a Tennessee girl



Despite the characterization that there was a 'handful' of Mexicans who boo'd, it was thunderous. How dare they, with all this nation has done, and now because they want a free pass to ravage this nation further and we resists, they boo this young woman.


Hey if you don't believe me or the author of the website I took the above from, Tammy Bruce.com,

Check it out for yourself.



Anyway, like I said I recalled that Movie and I thought how about a "Day Without Gringos"?

I don't mean we disappear, some of them might like that. They keep screaming at rallies about how we should all go back to Europe because they are the ones who have a right to this continent, not us.

I have news for them, some of my ancestors walked here quite a few thousand years ago and I am not going anywhere.

The truth is what they really like is Gringo Dollars so for "A Day Without Gringos", start looking at labels.

If it was made in Mexico put it back but note the price and from time to time, mail or email the Mexican Embassy how much you did not spend on their products and how much you spent on the same thing from another country.

Come to think about it forget that "Day Without Gringos" make it a way of life.

Technorati Tag:****** ******




Tracked to
Trackposted to Pet's Garden Blog, Perri Nelson's Website, stikNstein... has no mercy, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Conservative Cat, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.


**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email stiknstein-at-gmail-dot-com and let us know at what level you would like to participate.




Update: Welcome to every one coming here from
Blue Collar Muse

If you liked A Day Without Gringos?

You will just LOVE:

Not Since the War of 1812
For the first time in the almost 200 years since the War of 1812 American Military Forces retreated while underfire by foreign agents on US Soil.


The Democratic National Commitee is in Caucus to Draft a Demand for an Exit Strategy from Arizona.


and


Nation of Aztlan They Say They Are In A Civil War

They also say, we should support affirmative action because some day we will need it.


Check out the videos


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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 9:16 AM CDT
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Updated: Saturday, 2 June 2007 11:19 PM CDT
Friday, 12 January 2007
Not Since the War of 1812
Topic: Immigration
For the first time in the almost 200 years since the War of 1812 American Military Forces retreated while underfire by foreign agents on US Soil.


The Democratic National Commitee is in Caucus to Draft a Demand for an Exit Strategy from Arizona.


Guardsmen overrun at the Border


12 News
Jan. 4, 2007 02:44 PM
National Guard unit stormed while patroling the border

the fuse is lit!





Border attack raises security concerns

the fuse is lit!






A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico.

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat. advertisement




The Border Patrol will not say whether shots were fired. However, no Guardsmen were injured in the incident.

The Border Patrol says the incident occurred somewhere along the 120 mile section of the border between Nogales and Lukeville. The area is known as a drug corridor. Last year, 124-thousand pounds of illegal drugs were confiscated in this area.

The Border patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico


Update:

National Guard Attacked By Border Gunmen


POSTED: 7:56 am EST January 5, 2007
UPDATED: 3:55 pm EST January 10, 2007

LUKEVILLE, Ariz. -- U.S. Border Patrol officials still don't know why National Guard troops along the Arizona-Mexico border had to flee a group of armed people. The gunmen fled into Mexico.

The gunmen attacked the U.S. Border Patrol entry site along Arizona's border before retreating back to Mexico on Wednesday night. The troops withdrew safely Wednesday night, and no was injured.

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen overran the Identification Team site, which is manned by National Guardsmen.

The Border Patrol wouldn't say whether any shots were fired.

Officials don't know who the gunmen were or why they approached the border post.
continued:


I have one question. How many have heard about this incident from the Mainstream Media, their regular News Services?

Or have you instead been inundated with the latest updates of the flap between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell?
Tracked to
OTA Weekend at The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns


Technorati Tag:*********


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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 1:34 AM CST
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Updated: Saturday, 2 June 2007 11:16 PM CDT
Thursday, 23 November 2006
Nation of Aztlan They Say They Are In A Civil War
Topic: Immigration

the fuse is lit!




My Video

They also say, we should support affirmative action because some day we will need it. I think that is something like what one of the Swedish ministers said about the rise in Crime among the Muslim immigrant population. That native Swedes should be tolerant, because some day they would need the Muslims to tolerate them, when they had become a minority in their own land.

In 1846 as we all know the US went to War with Mexico and we ended up with the Southwest. What you may not know is that in 1846 the Dineh,(Navajo) the REAL inhabitants of that region also kicked Mexicos Chicano Civilizer tails back south of the Rio Grande.

Nope they do NOT belong or own the North.

My own ancestors also stood their ground. Cortez with 140? Conquistadores conquered the Aztecs. Pizzaro with 400 Conquistadores conquered the Incans.

DeSoto with 600 Conquistadores entered the Cherokee homeland and--

We kicked their tales back to the Gulf of Mexico.


Maybe something like that needs done again.

It irks to think our tax dollars pay the salary of that professor ranting about the overthrow of the United States of America and the creation of the Nation of Aztlan.

Hey if any reading this ever has their driver's license revoked and gets caught driving anyway?

Just tell the Judge you were not driving Illegally, but that you are just an undocumented driver.

Technorati Tag:*********


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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 12:01 AM CST
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Updated: Saturday, 2 June 2007 11:05 PM CDT
Thursday, 25 August 2005
Los Zetas Update
Topic: Immigration
Sometime in the late 90s by accident and due to my insatiable curiosity, I stumbled up a small, less than 200 member, Discussion Group whose emphasis was

"Open Discussion of Intelligence (Academic)"

I rarely ever post there, because most of the members are NOT amateurs or hobby theorists but ACTUAL Intelligence members in Academia and International Intelligence and Security Corporations. Some of them got their experience in a manner they are not allowed to discuss.

So in my research of Los Zetas I did one of my rare posts to that list asking for information.

I have been answered so far by the List Moderator.

I will post here a censored version of their reply.

Why Censored? Because my website has already been accessed once to my knowledge by someone who used a specific keyword search to locate a thread on DailyKos. I was the second link and from the comment left on that post he was not pleased with the content of my blog. LOL.

So that being the case, and since this source of information is one I place a high value on, I am NOT going to take the chance that I might be responsible for a flood of Kossaks arguing with the regular members and ruining the List for everyone.

Anyone who wishes the URL and Join information, leave a comment and your email address. It goes without saying that any of my regular blog links I have no qualms trusting. Others, leave your blog address if you do not have a blog leave the URL of a blog you regularly post comments to. For those I deem trustworthy I have no hesitation sharing my information sources.

Those I choose not to share with, grit your teeth and bear it.

XXXXXXXXX Open Discussion of Intelligence (Academic)"


From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX


Subject: Re: Zetas






No library databases seem to be indexing much yet. All I have seen has been news coverage. However, a June 2005 Homeland Security report has a short article on Los Zetas:

http://www.wetp.org/Wetp/public/dwloads/HASL_1712dnlfile.PDF

The New York Times published a report in 2004:

FOREIGN DESK | October 30, 2004, Saturday

Mexico Arrests Man Suspected of Leading Drug Cartel's Assassins

By JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR. (NYT) 428 words Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 6 , Column 3

Also you might try these:

http://www.infowars.com/articles/world/mexican_drug_commandos.htm http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/430356.html http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/402396.html http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/jul03/secr.html http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44486

And School of the Americas watch page:

http://www.soaw.org/new/newswire_detail.php?id=867

I'm not really tracking this. I did note, however, a dearth of scholarly interest. Also, the US Congressional resources that can be accessed online did not produce any ongoing research projects.

XXXXXXXXXX, Ph.D.

The Homeland Security report came from a website that is supported by MDB, Inc.:

http://www.michaeldbaker.com/working.html

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 5:29 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:56 AM CDT
Wednesday, 24 August 2005
Border Wars Data Page
Topic: Immigration
Border Wars Data Page

I am not going to jump on the US Government is in the Drug Business bandwagon that some of these articles present, but this IS the most extensive set of links I have found so far

Despite Who is behind this almost ignored War on our Southern border this statement does have some validity

"While the threat of terrorists attacking the US is regularly one of the top news headlines on a daily basis, real terror that has already claimed the lives of 600 people this year is being routinely ignored or downplayed by the mainstream media.


Mexican drug commando organization los Zetas has been carrying out kidnappings of American citizens and politically motivated assassinations which have stretched from the border town of Nuevo Laredo through to Dallas, Houston and San Antonio all the way to Nashville, Tenn., and Atlanta, Ga.

If Al-Qaeda had infiltrated the US and carried out hundreds of assassinations and kidnappings including those of FBI and DEA agents as well as police chiefs, do you think the media would be interested? Of course they would and yet this very scenario is being played out with scant coverage in local newspapers and the occasional wire blurb."



Mexican drug cartels' wars move closer to U.S. border

Arizona governor decares state of emergency along Mexican border

Border emergency declared in New Mexico

The Secret Border Wars

Former DEA Agent: Mexican Commandos Killing In South West US To Protect Bush Drug Cartel

US shuts Mexican border consulate

Border Police Chief Only Latest Casualty In Mexico Drug War

US renews Mexico travel warning as killings mount

U.S. consulate reopens in violent Mexican border city

U.S. agent accused of aiding illegals

Men who shot Border Patrol agents wore black military-style garb

Illegal Alien Crime Wave in Full Swing

Mexican commandos seek control of border

Mexican Drug Commandos

Federal agent killed in Brownsville gun battle

U.S. officials say Zetas (Mexican Commandos) have killed in Texas

Mexican special forces take control in border town

US-trained Mexican commandos pose threat to authorities

US reopens Mexico border mission

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 8:31 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:55 AM CDT
The Vigilante
Topic: Immigration
We need more men like this in Society, we also need to keep the ones we now have alive.

The Vigilante

By Eric Umansky

At a glance, the office of Tijuana’s weekly newspaper, Zeta, gives just a hint of the kind of publication that is produced inside. It sits on a residential street in a middle-class neighborhood, and only a small plaque seems to distinguish it from the rest of the block’s modest family homes.

Look closer and a theme emerges: the building is set back from the street, with much of it obscured by a concrete wall; no first-floor windows are visible; and the front door has heavy grating.

Watching the paper’s editor and publisher, J. Jesus Blancornelas, arrive for work dispels any doubts. A caravan of three vehicles pulls up, two Suburbans and a blacked-out Chevrolet Caprice. Out pile fourteen serious-looking men — soldiers in the Mexican Army — bristling with M-16 assault rifles, shotguns, copious clips of ammunition, and body armor. That level of protection would be surprising for a journalist in Baghdad, let alone for one in a quiet neighborhood thirty minutes from downtown San Diego.

The precautions are for good reason, though. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, a significant majority of illegal drugs destined for the U.S. — marijuana, cocaine, and heroin — transit through Mexico. Tijuana, host to one of the world’s most heavily traveled border crossings, is a strategic chokepoint. In the first four months of this year, there were 163 homicides in Tijuana, many drug-related.

Local journalists know how dangerous it is to shine a spotlight on the trade and the corruption it fuels among Mexican officials. Nine reporters have been killed in northern Mexico in the past decade, with the perpetrators enjoying what the Committee to Protect Journalists calls a “nearly perfect record of impunity.” In such an environment, Zeta stands out, both for the work it has produced and the costs it has incurred.

Since Blancornelas started Zeta twenty-five years ago, it has been challenging the nexus between drug lords, local officials, and business leaders. As a result, Blancornelas has been wounded in an assassination attempt, and two top Zeta editors have been killed, the most recent one in June of last year.

The deaths have had a curious effect on Blancornelas. He evinces a determination to continue, but a regret for ever having started. It’s a mix of emotions that can’t be made any simpler by the fact that many journalists in Tijuana see Blancornelas not as a hero, but as obsessed and vainglorious. Meanwhile, the man Blancornelas believes is behind at least the first murder at Zeta is not only still free, he’s Tijuana’s new mayor.
*****************************************************
There is a LOT more to read about the War on our Southern Borders.

And most of us thought the problem was just masses of illegal alien migrant workers crossing over.

We should be so lucky.

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 6:37 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:55 AM CDT
For Those Who Do Not Understand The Meaning of Censorship
Topic: Immigration
We have all heard it.

CENSORSHIP!

They are trying to muzzle the Press!

Well most of the time you hear this cry directed at the sinister Rightwing Neo-Con Conspiracy, it is uttered by those who do not even understand what censorship really IS.

Now if they want to LEARN?

Here is a good way to do so.


Journalists Stop Investigating Organized Crime


Submitted by editor on August 22, 2005 - 1:58pm.

By Susana Hayward
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - A drug war is ripping apart northern Mexico, but you won't find many details about who's behind it in the local newspapers. Journalists - after their colleagues have been killed, kidnapped, and threatened with death - have stopped investigating organized crime.

"It's the new trend of drug gangs: Journalists are warned, paid off or killed," said Daniel Rosas, the managing editor of the daily El Ma?ana, the oldest newspaper in this border city south of Laredo, Texas. "Drug battles have become bloodier, and gangs have no code of ethics. They don't respect human life; why should they respect reporters?"

El Ma?ana, founded in 1932 after the Mexican revolution with a motto to promote freedom of expression, has been self-censoring itself since its editor, Roberto Javier Mora Garcia, was stabbed to death on March 19, 2004.

Earlier this year, a former El Ma?ana reporter, Dolores Guadalupe Garcia Escamilla, died after being shot outside her home. She'd gone to work for a radio station and had named some officials as involved in the drug trade before she was killed.

El Ma?ana, whose walls are covered with images of past front pages, now reports only official news, its editors said. Other major newspapers along the northern frontier followed suit after their reporters were killed, kidnapped or threatened. They said corruption, impunity, and lack of police support made it almost impossible for journalists to research rampant violence accurately.

That means they don't follow up on the 173 people who've disappeared since last fall throughout the state of Tamaulipas, deemed by journalism organizations the most dangerous place for reporters to work in Mexico. Twenty-three others missing are Americans from Texas.

There have been at least 108 murders since January.

"We still inform the community of what's happening but are more careful of what we say. It's a painful decision. We are hostages to self-censorship, and it's worse than censorship," said El Ma?ana's publisher, Ramon Cantu Deandar.

Cantu, 39, has grown cynical about covering organized crime in this city of nearly half a million people.

"What's the point of investigating? We can't win. Drug mafias have billions and billions of dollars. They own this city: They buy police, government officials, investigators, you name it," he said. "It's better to write a crime novel."

The only newspaper that's still digging into the drug underworld is the Tijuana weekly Zeta, whose owner, Jesus Blancornelas, is something of a legend in Mexico and travels with bodyguards and bulletproof cars. Zeta's editor, Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, was killed June 22, 2004, after the paper published the names and photos of people it said were members of the Tijuana drug-trafficking cartel.

Blancornelas said he understood the reticence of his fellow journalists.

"They are unprotected, without security," he said. "You can't blame them."

According to Mexico's nongovernmental National Center for Social Communication, the country ranks first in Latin America in reports of attacks on journalists, surpassing Colombia. Journalism organizations are calling for an independent prosecutor to investigate crimes against reporters here.

In the last 18 months, six journalists have been killed along the border: four in 2004 and two in 2005. Two other journalists have been killed elsewhere in Mexico.

Their editors regarded the six as hard-core investigators of the prolific violence that has erupted since 2003, when the leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cardenas, was jailed, sparking a battle for control of Nuevo Laredo, the largest land port to the United States and the crucial crossing point to Interstate 35, which runs north across the United States to Canada.

"We're completely alone in this business. We don't trust any state or federal authorities, and crime keeps on growing. It's more visible, and there's seldom any punishment," said Jorge Morales, the editor of El Imparcial, in the Sonora state capital of Hermosillo, south of Arizona. The company also owns two papers in Baja California.

Morales dismantled El Imparcial's investigative team after one of its crime reporters, Jose Alfredo Jimenez Mota, disappeared April 2 after telling colleagues he had to meet a source he was afraid of.

In the newsroom of El Ma?ana, a memorial to Mora was taken down long ago. Cantu said it was simply too sad for the staff to be reminded every day of what had happened.

Police now guard the entrances to the paper's two-story headquarters, though there are few other signs of stepped-up security. It wasn't till early this month that a new editor took Mora's place.

"I have to live up to Mora's reputation as a moral, ethical and probing journalist," said Omar Eli Robles, who'd been a reporter at Monterrey's El Norte newspaper. "Of course, I'm a little afraid, but danger is part of the job."

Asked, however, if he'd tell his reporters to go back to investigating drugs and corruption, he demurred.

"When and if this war ends," he said.

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 6:32 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:55 AM CDT
Tuesday, 23 August 2005
Film at Eleven
Topic: Immigration
That used to be the teaser for Television News.

Back in the Day we might actually have GOTTEN to
see News.

Today? I am not so certain. During my meal breaks
I can usually catch a news channel in the plant
cafeteria.

For the last few months a large portion of the
News(?) I have viewed could be summed up with a few
simple statements.

Nothing new to report from Aruba today, so we will
show some old footage of a pond being drained.

What would I LIKE to see covered in more depth in the News? Well maybe not covered in depth, but at least SOME coverage, maybe a LITTLE mention?

Well how about THIS?

Mexican mercenaries expand base into U.S.

By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
August 1, 2005

A renegade band of Mexican military deserters, offering $50,000 bounties for the assassination of U.S. law-enforcement officers, has expanded its base of operations into the United States



Call me an alamist if you will, but I think the American People might WANT to know that there are paramilitary forces running around the US South West targeting the Border Patrol.

I mean we all heard two States declared a State of Emergency about border issues, but the picture I got was they were more concerned with Illegal Aliens just walking accross the border. And of course there are those when this issue is brought up accuse those presenting it of racism, anti-immigrationism, etc etc.

Now for me? I have nothing against Immigrants. Well Ok I AM part American Indian/Cherokee so I have a FEW ill feelings about immigrants, but most of y'al have been behaving yourself fairly well lately so as long as we are talking about LEGAL immigration I have no real complaints. ILLEGAL that is quite a different matter. Drivers Liscences for ILLEGAL Aliens are you crazy? The same argument for giving them Drivers Liscences can be used to justify giving BACK Drivers Liscences to those who have had them REVOKED. That they would buy Car Insurance and thus make our Roads safer?

What makes you think someone who breaks the Law by ENTERING this country is going to Keep the Law if you give them things?

And NONE of this comes anywhere CLOSE to the issue of having cadres of Armed Mercenaries hunting down law enforement officers on our Territory!

NO COMPARISON. So why the silence. Turns out the Minutemen are closer to the original than we thought doesn't it?

Turns out we might NEED some vigilantee action if the Government is not going to perform some of its primary Constitutional Functions.

"insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence"

Write some letters, ask why no one ever hears much about this stuff, why all we hear about are things like,

"due to the water table level in Aruba, draining the pond has been a problem."

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 11:24 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:54 AM CDT
Article. I. Section. 9.
Clause 2 Of the Constitution of the United States

Topic: Immigration
States: The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

Folks along with Afghanistan, Iraq and unknown locations around the world on our Southern Border we face not merely Illegal Aliens Crossing at will but a completely unknown to the General Public, Undeclared War being fought.

Mexican mercenaries expand base into U.S.

By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
August 1, 2005

A renegade band of Mexican military deserters, offering $50,000 bounties for the assassination of U.S. law-enforcement officers, has expanded its base of operations into the United States
to protect loads of cocaine and marijuana being brought into America by Mexican smugglers, authorities said.
The deserters, known as the "Zetas," trained in the United States as an elite force of anti-drug commandos, but have since signed on as mercenaries for Mexican narcotics traffickers and have recruited an army of followers, many of whom are believed to be operating in Texas, Arizona, California and Florida.
Working mainly for the Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico's most dangerous drug-trafficking organizations, as many as 200 Zeta members are thought to be involved, including former Mexican federal, state and local police. They are suspected in more than 90 deaths of rival gang members and others, including police officers, in the past two years in a violent drug war to control U.S. smuggling routes.
The organization's hub, law-enforcement authorities said, is Nuevo Laredo, a border city of 300,000 across from Laredo, Texas. It is the most active port-of-entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, with more than 6,000 trucks crossing daily into Texas, carrying about 40 percent of Mexico's total exports.
Authorities said the Zetas control the city despite efforts by Mexican President Vicente Fox to restore order. He sent hundreds of Mexican troops and federal agents to the city in March to set up highway checkpoints and conduct raids on suspected Zeta locations.
Despite the presence of law enforcement, more than 100 killings have occurred in the city since Jan. 1, including that of former Police Chief Alejandro Dominguez, 52, gunned down June 8, just seven hours after he was sworn in. The city's new chief, Omar Pimentel, 37, escaped death during a drive-by shooting on his first day, although one of his bodyguards was killed.
Authorities said the Zetas operate over a wide area of the U.S.-Mexico border and are suspected in at least three drug-related slayings in the Dallas area. They said as many as 10 Zeta members are operating inside Texas as Gulf Cartel assassins, seeking to protect nearly $10 million in daily drug transactions.
In March, the Justice Department said the Zetas were involved "in multiple assaults and are believed to have hired criminal gangs" in the Dallas area for contract killings. The department said the organization was spreading from Texas to California and Florida and was establishing drug-trafficking routes it was willing to protect "at any cost."
Just last month, the department issued a new warning to law-enforcement authorities in Arizona and California, urging them to be on the lookout for Zeta members. An intelligence bulletin said a search for new drug-smuggling routes in the two states by the organization could bring new violence to the areas.
The number of assaults on U.S. Border Patrol agents along the 260 miles of U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona known as the Tucson sector has increased dramatically this year, including a May 30 shooting near Nogales, Ariz., in which two agents were seriously wounded during an ambush a mile north of the border.
Their assailants were dressed in black commando-type clothing, used high-powered weapons and hand-held radios to point out the agents' location, and withdrew from the area using military-style cover and concealment tactics to escape back into Mexico.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada in Nogales said his investigators found commando clothing, food, water and other "sophisticated equipment" at the ambush site.
Since Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year, there have been 196 assaults on Border Patrol agents in the Tucson sector, including 24 shootings. During the same period last year, 92 assaults were reported, with five shootings. The sector is the busiest alien- and drug-trafficking corridor in the country.
U.S. intelligence officials have described the Zetas as an expanding gang of mercenaries with intimate knowledge of Mexican drug-trafficking methods and routes. Strategic Forecasting Inc., a security consulting firm that often works with the State and Defense departments, said in a recent report the Zetas had maintained "connections to the Mexican law-enforcement establishment" to gain unfettered access throughout the southern border.
Many of the Zeta leaders belonged to an elite anti-drug paratroop and intelligence battalion known as the Special Air Mobile Force Group, who deserted in 1991 and aligned themselves with drug traffickers.


I SAY we should NOT treat this as criminal matter, but that Congress should invoke the provisions of

Article. I. Section. 9. Clause 2 Of the Constitution of the United States

Formally Declare that the United States in in a State of Invasion by and treat these groups as Non-uniformed Unlawful Combatants.

Treat them according to the Articles of War.

Which would be, pursue them as combatants, if taken try them by Military Tribunal and Execute them.

Leniency at the Discretion of the Convening Authority for cooperation and intelligence.

Those taken in Arms in an Act of War upon the United States should suffer the penalties for Unlawful Combat.

For those who would equivocate because the Zeta Cadres and the Drug Cartels are not Governments?

May I point out that the First Land Military Action by the United States after the Revolutionary War was against the Barbarry Pirates.

The Congress of the day, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton discussed the situation and decided that as our Shipping and Sovereignty had been attacked we were in a State of War with the Non Government Organization known as the Barbarry Pirates and therefore a Formal Declaration of War was not required.


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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 5:55 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 6:54 AM CDT

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